Four Best Bay Area Spas

The word “spa” can refer to a diverse range of facilities and treatments, all of which are meant to variously clean, relax and rejuvenate your body. Many cultures do their own variations on the spa theme — Russians whack each other with leaves, Tibetans place bowls on your body and strike them with mallets and the massages given in Turkish hammamscould be mistaken for a WWE matchup.

Fortunately, you don’t have to go all the way to Istanbul for these kinds of exotic spa treatments. Here are four of the best Bay Area spas for those looking for a fun gift idea or just wanting to splurge on a little relaxation for themselves.

Berkeley’s Claremont Club and Spa (41 Tunnel Rd., Berkeley) offers a Tibetan Sound Massage. After a preliminary massage, the practitioner places five singing bowls on core energy centers up and down your spine. The bowls vary in size and were made from bronze in (get this) the 17th and 18th centuries. The practitioner strikes the bowls with soft mallets before sliding the mallet around the edge in the same way you’d trace the rim of a wine glass to make it sing. The motion creates binaural beats, a distinctive audio sensation that occurs when two tones of slightly different frequencies play separately in each ear. There is research that suggests binaural beats can alter your brain’s dominant wave frequency, creating alpha and delta states (alpha being associated with relaxation and calmness, delta with deep sleep). Very cool.

The damage: Also very expensive — the Tibetan Sound Massage goes for $225.

Tucked away in Bayview-Hunters Point is a legit Russian banya (“banya” is Russian for “sauna” or “steam bath”). Archimedes Banya (748 Innes Ave., San Francisco) includes two hot tubs, a traditional sauna, a cooling-down pool, a cold plunge, a cafe full of Russian delicacies and a sweet rooftop view. It was created by Lincoln University president and rector Mikhail Brodsky. The centerpiece of the place is a two-level sauna room, complete with a 14-foot-high stove. If you’re after a little culture with your spa, take the venik platza treatment. Get face-down on a bench and let a staff member (don’t worry, we’ve been assured they’re well trained) thwack you with a bunch of warm birch and oak leaves. Then move on to the hammam scrub and massage, a process that comes from Moroccan and Turkish tradition. You’ll never feel cleaner. Oh, and clothing is optional.

The damage: A venik platza treatment goes for $30, on top of the entry fee, which starts at $42. Use of a hammam starts at $40.

Down in Palo Alto, the good people at the Four Seasons Palo Alto (2050 University Ave., Palo Alto) will give you a full-body massage with naturally therapeutic Himalayan salt stones. The stones are supposed to detoxify the body, relieve chronic pain and generally reduce stress. Alternatively, you could go for a massage with sculpted basalt stones and handmade massages made from birchwood. The process is called Sticks and Stones and it uses the warm flowing movements of the stone stamps to support the purification of tissue, relieving tension and stimulating your metabolism. Also, it feels really cool.

The damage: The Sticks and Stones treatment goes for $250.

And if you’re over the hill and by the sea, the Ritz-Carlton Half Moon Bay (1 Miramontes Point Rd., Half Moon Bay) does facials with an enzyme mask made from pumpkins because, you know, Half Moon Bay is the self-proclaimed pumpkin capital of the world. Like any good pumpkin, you’ll leave feeling smooth, plump and hydrated.

The damage: The pumpkin facial is $245-260.

Want to know more? Check out Perry Garfinkel’s roundup of Bay Area spa treatments for the Mercury News here.

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